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Professor and Financial Times columnist John Kay deftly explains the development and ramifications of the current global financial system. He discusses how to restructure it to make it safer, sounder and more useful to the real economy. Kay maintains that financial firms – with the complicity of regulators – contribute little to everyday industry and commerce. His interdisciplinary and comprehensive approach, offered in plain English, makes frequent use of anecdotes to elucidate hard truths. You’ll find that Kay offers an iconoclastic perspective on the financialization of the global economy. While always politically neutral, getAbstract finds that his analysis presents a useful counterpoint for industry professionals and for anyone who works, pays bills or otherwise relies on the financial system.

In this summary, you will learn

How the current global financial system fails to serve the real economy;

What systemic dysfunctions exist in finance’s operations, regulation, culture, legal system and politics; and

How to fix the system.

About the Author

John Kay, a Financial Times columnist and a professor at the London School of Economics and at Oxford University, is a board member of numerous public corporations.

Summary

“Far Too Much of a Good Thing” Finance is necessary so that real economies can operate. The financial sector should undertake four essential jobs: 1) manage the system of payments; 2) bring together the suppliers of capital, or lenders, with the users of capital, or borrowers; 3) facilitate...